When the Darkness Comes
by talisianknight
Summary: After her father goes missing, Shayna makes it her mission to find him. When she finds him, she also finds herself in a world she never knew existed. Trapped in the Potion Master's house, she discovers that there is more to this man than the monster who trapped her father in the attic. -A twist on Beauty and the Beast-
1. The Storm

Chapter One

The Storm

 **Charles Montgomery**

Rain pattered down on the roof of my beat up station wagon as it bumped along the worn down road in one of the shabby suburbs of Cokeworth. My boss had kept me late at the bank doing twice the work of the younger apprentices he had hired. Because of this, I was running late to celebrate my youngest daughter's twenty-sixth birthday. To make it worse, I hadn't had time to stop and purchase a present for her either.

A flash of lightning lit up the road before me and I jumped in fright. Unfortunately, my jump had also caused my hands to shake the wheel. My tired hit a slick patch in the road and sent my car spinning, only stopping once it hit the rubbish bins outside of an abandoned factory. A loud pop occurred and I feared that a tire had popped.

Not wanting to spend more time in this neighborhood than I absolutely had to, I pulled my coat tighter around me before stepping out into the rain to assess the damage that had been done to my car. Rounding the car, I saw that the bins had left dents along the side of my car and one of my rear tires had been pierced by several nails. I let out a swear under my breath as I turned and surveyed the neighborhood I was in.

In the faint light of the streetlamp, I could barely make out a few run down houses along the road. There was only one that had a light on and I prayed that it was a house that would be able to help me. My children were always telling me I needed to get a phone but I never saw the point of them… until now. With a sigh, I set off down the road toward the house, drenched head to toe and shivering.

As I walked, I took in my surroundings. It appeared that there were several street lamps on the street but many of them were broken. All of the houses seemed to have been built the same way, and painted with the same dark and dreary paint. I couldn't imagine having to live on this street. I had just reached the house and was about to push open the gate when I heard a voice from behind me.

"Well, well, well. Whadda we 'ave 'ere boys?" the voice said. I looked toward the source of the voice and saw three men walking, no, stumbling toward me. This is just what I needed.

"Look, I'm not looking for any trouble. I just want to get home to my family. My car just broke down a little bit up the road and I just need to call for help." I said as I help up my hands in what I hoped was a sign that I didn't want to cause any trouble.

"Awww. Going 'ome to the family, the man is." the stranger said with a drunken laugh to the others. "We can 'elp ya. For a small fee."

"That's alright. I have everything handled." I said as I began backing up to the gate, not wanting to turn my back on the three men.

"Well, I'm going to 'ave my boys check ya. Just in case..." the stranger said with a nod to the other men. With that nod, the other two goons approached me and began to roughly dig through my pockets.

"I said I didn't have anything!" I exclaimed as I tried to push the men away.

"Be quiet" one of the men searching me said as he punched me in the gut, knocking the air out of me. I doubled over in pain as I struggled to catch my breath.

"Nothin' on him, mate!" The other man searching me called back to their leader.

"Shame. I s'pose we oughta teach 'im what 'appens when 'e can't pay the price."

"My pleasure." Goon number two said before turning back to me and kicking me in the legs, knocking me to the ground.

Once my knees hit the pavement, the men were on top of me and began to punch and kick me. Now, I am, by no means, a weak person, but I was outnumbered as I tried my hardest to fight back. It was no useless, however. When the men were satisfied with their work, they got up without saying a word. One of them, I couldn't see which through my quickly swelling eyes, pulled my jacket off before they took off, leaving me badly beaten in front of the gate.

I laid there for what felt like ages but was probably only a few minutes. With what remaining strength I could muster through the pain I was in, I used the gate to pull myself up to my feet. No part of my body was unharmed and with each movement I cringed in pain. When I was on my feet, I stumbled up to the front door of the house. I knocked twice before I feel back to the ground and the world around me faded to black.

When I came to, I found myself looking up at a ceiling that I did not recognize. I shot upright where I was laying down and instantly regretting it because the action made me dizzy. When the haze had cleared, I looked around at my surrounding. By the light of the fire burning across the room for me, I could see that the walls of the room I was in was lined with bookshelves that were stuffed with books. I knew that if my daughter, Shayna, were here, she would be combing the shelves, taking in all of the titles and feeling the spines of the books. I was sitting on a worn and lumpy green couch with a small table that separated me from the fireplace.

There was a shuffling noise behind me and I jumped up from the couch. It wasn't until that movement that I realized that I could move at all. I had barely been able to make it to the front door of a house from its front gate and here I was, moving around feeling almost as if nothing had happened to me in the first place. In the doorway that was behind the couch, a man dressed in black with equally black hair that fell to his shoulders stood with a mug.

"You would be wise to sit back down." The man said in a deep baritone voice and he moved into the room.

"Who are you? Where am I?" I asked as I sat back down on the couch.

"My name Is of no importance and you are in my house… obviously." He said as he set down the mug with steaming liquid in front of me. "Drink that. It will help with the healing."

I was uneasy about drinking what the stranger had given me, especially since he had not given me his name. Despite the uneasy feeling, however, I took the cup in my hands and began to drink its contents. What I had expected to be tea, was not tea. Instead the liquid had a taste of cherries and cinnamon but had the consistency of mud. Despite the overwhelming urge to gag the drink back up, I drained the mug before setting it back down on the table. A warming sensation began to spread throughout my body and, as much as I hated to admit it, I did begin to feel better.

"Would you care to explain why you were on my doorstep?" the figure asked from where he was standing near the fireplace. He must have moved there while I was drinking the concoction.

"I was on my way home to celebrate my daughter's birthday when I lost control of my car. I was coming to ask for help when some men approached me outside of your gate. By the way, do you have a phone? I need to call my daughter to let her know what happened."

"I do not have a phone. You will be well soon and then you ca…" he began to say but was cutoff by a loud pounding at his front door. He visibly stiffened and I knew that what was about to happen could not be good. The man pulled what looked like a stick from his sleeve and pointed it at me. I swore I could see a hint of apology in his dark eyes but when I was about to ask him what was going on, I realized that I couldn't speak. In fact, I couldn't move at all. The man left the room and I could hear him open the front door. From my place on the couch, I could hear muffled voices as he admitted the figures into the house.

"Well look what we have here, my Lord. Severus has himself a guest" came a woman's voice from the doorway I knew was behind me.

"He is not a guest. The fool threw himself in front of my door, expecting me to help him after his car broke down." My stomach dropped hearing these words from the man who's house I was in.

"What do you plan on doing with him, Severus?" came a third voice. The most chilling of the three. It was a cross between human and what I could only describe as what I thought a snake sounded like.

"Let me have a go at him, Severus. He looks like he would be fun to torture." The woman said with a menacing cackle and my heart rate sped up. What had I gotten myself into.

"No, Bellatrix." The man I now knew as Severus replied.

"Surely you don't mean to let him live." The woman responded with a gasp.

"I will do as I please! This is MY house." Severus said with authority in his voice.

"My Lord, are you really going to let Severus…"

"No, dear Bellatrix. Though I am curious as to what my most faithful servant has planned." The snake-like man responded.

"He has family. People who will come looking for him. I must plan my decision wisely." Severus responded coolly.

"I say you wait until they show up and kill the lot." The woman piped up.

"Bellatrix…" Severus began but was stopped by his master who had just walked into my line of sight.

"That is enough, Bellatrix." He said as he stooped down to look at me. The man was hideous. He was extremely pale and had two slits where his nose should be and his eyes were that of a snakes. The man looked just as he sounded. Fear seeped into the very depths of my bones.

"Perhaps I will keep him around as a servant. Or for when I get bored and choose to practice some new spells." Severus stated. I was confused what he meant by spells though. Was he talking about magic? Surely, not. It didn't exist.

"Why on earth would you have a muggle as a servant?" Bellatrix asked with disgust.

"Severus, normally I would not allow filth like this to live. However, you are a faithful follower and have been of great help lately, so I will allow you to do with him as you wish." The snake-like man said with a nod in Severus's direction.

With that consent, I felt my body loosen from its hold and the neck of my shirt was pulled up, causing me to stand. I tried to shout in protest by I found that my voice would not come, no matter how hard I yelled.

"You can try and yell all you want, but no one will hear you. I have placed a silencing spell on you." Severus spoke into my ear as he tugged me out of the room and up the set of stairs in his house to what I found out was the attic.

Once we reached the top, he shoved me into the room that held a small cot in the corner and slammed the door behind me. I tried pounding on the door but I had assumed that since he had made it so I could not talk, he had the same ability to make it so my pounding couldn't be heard. With a sigh of defeat, I slumped onto the cot in the corner and pulled my knees into my chest. While I hoped that someone would find me, I was more concerned that someone in my family would come looking for me. Little did I know, that was just the case.


	2. Belle

Chapter Two

Belle

 **Shayna Montgomery**

 **(earlier that day)**

"Roses are red. Violets are blue. Shayna, my sweet, I've been dreaming of you."

I didn't have to look up from the shelving of books I was browsing to know who was behind me in the bookstore. There was only one person who tried to get my attention with ridiculous poetry on a daily basis.

"Ever the charmer, Jarek." I said, continuing along the row of books, looking for the one I wanted to purchase.

"Oh, come on, sweetheart. You love my poems" he said as he blocked my path with one of his muscular arms. I let out a sigh before turning to walk the other way but he just stopped me with his other arm. With a second sigh, I turned to face him, looking into his green eyes.

"First off, I'm not your sweetheart. Second, your poems are actually kind of creepy." I admitted truthfully. I pushed his arms from around me before turning back around to face the shelves grabbing a book and beginning to flip through the pages. I didn't have long to flip through the book before it was tugged from my hands. "Give it back." I demanded as I turned back toward Jarek with a glare.

"Why do you even read this rubbish?" he asked, his green eyes looking down at the cover in disgust.

"Because I don't find it rubbish." I responded, yanking the book from his hands before turning and starting to walk toward the register.

"Why do you keep avoiding me, Shayna? All I want is a date from you… for now." He asked as he grabbed my arm to stop me from leaving. At this point, I was getting annoyed and I turned back toward him, my nose flaring.

"I've told you many times times that I am not interested." I said as I shook his hand from my arm and walked away.

"You should consider yourself lucky!" he called after me, "many other girls would fight to be in your place."

"Good. Go find one of them!" I called back over my shoulder. I reached the register and put my book on the counter.

"That Galloway boy bothering you again, Shayna?" the old man behind the counter asked.

"Nothing I can't handle, Uncle Alfie." I responded. I had known Alfred, the owner of the book store since I was younger. He has always been so kind to my family, especially after my mother passed away. With a smile, I handed over my money to pay for the book.

"No, no dear. I will not be taking your money. This is a birthday gift to you." Uncle Alfie said as he curled my hand around the money and pushed it back toward me.

"Thank you, Uncle Alfie." I said before stepping around the counter and placing a kiss on his cheek.

"Will I be seeing you in here again next week? I'll be getting in a new shipment of books."

"You know me, of course I will be here." I said with a smile and a wave as I walked toward the door.

"Say hello to your father dear." Uncle Alfred add as he waved me off.

 **\- later that evening-**

"It's not like father to be this late." I commented as I looked out the window into the rain for the fifteenth time this evening.

"He probably just stopped to get his _princess_ something on his way home." My sister, Ellis replied with a sneer from her place on the couch.

Ellis was older than me by four years and carried a lot of features that were similar to my father's. She had the Montgomery auburn hair that cascaded down her back with green eyes and her face was covered in freckles. I, on the other hand, looked more like my mother, or so my father says. My dark brown hair flowed down to my elbows and I had hazel eyes with very few freckles. Ellis was always under the impression that my father favored me because I looked like mum.

"Ellis, something just doesn't feel right." I said, begin to grow fearful that something was wrong with my father.

"Then go out there, in the pouring rain, and look for him. I'm not going with you though." She said as she shifted her position on the couch.

"I didn't ask you to go with me. Clearly, you don't want to be here so you can go home to your family." I said as I pulled on a pair of boots and tugged my hair back into a braid. Ellis lived on the other side of town with her new husband and rarely spent time with my father and I.

"Dad would be pissed if he came home and I wasn't here to celebrate. So… go out there and see that he is alright, but hurry. I'm so bored." She said with a wave of her hand.

Pulling on my coat, I walked out to my car and climbed in while thinking about where my father could be at this time of night. Dad wasn't one for deviating from his routine. Deciding that tracing his path from the house to work would be the best idea, I started my car and drove down the road slowly, trying to see through the rain.

About halfway between home and father's work, I saw his car setting outside of an abandoned factory. I drove close to it and saw that it was empty and at least one of his tires was blown. Since it was raining, I didn't think he would walk far from the car to I turned my car and began to slowly drive through the neighborhood. Ahead of me, I saw a house with a light on in the window and decided to stop there to see if they occupants had seen my father. I was not prepared for what was in store for me.

As I approached the house, I was overcome with a sense of unease. It was dark, save for the window that had the light in it. Swallowing my fears, I knocked on the front door. I waiting for sometime and was about ready to leave, thinking no one was going to answer the door, when the door creaked open a crack and I could just make out a woman's face.

"What do you want?" she asked in a harsh voice.

"I'm looking for my father. I saw his car at the end of the road and was wondering if he…" before I could finish my sentence, she threw the door open and pulled me inside by my braid.

"Ow, you're hurting me." I said as she tugged me along into a living area that was being lit by a fireplace. Any other time, I would have been amazed by the books that lined the walls, but when my hair felt like it was being yanked out of my head, I felt no amazement.

"Look what we have here, my Lord. Severus was right. The muggle filth did have family come looking for him." The woman said as she shoved me to the floor in the middle of the room.

I saw that I was at someone's pale, bare feet and I slowly raised my head up to look at who it was. When my eyes reached the face, I sucked in a breath. I was looking at the most hideous man… thing… I had ever seen.

"Now, now, child. There is no need to fear." The creature said as he held out a hand to me. I was scared to touch it, but I had this nagging feeling that if I refused, I would regret it. "What is your name?" it asked as it pulled me to my feet. Despite looking thin and frail, the man was strong.

"Shayna." I replied with a shaky voice, looking into the man's snake-like eyes.

"Severus, please show Shayna to where you have pitilessly locked up her father." The creepy man said as he pushed me toward a man clothed all in black. He grabbed me by the shoulder, though not as roughly as the other two had and began to lead me to a set of stairs. Up we went until the stairs were no more and we were blocked by a door.

From his sleeve, the man pulled a stick and waived it at the door. With a click, the door opened. I turned to look at the man with a questioning gaze but all he did was push me forward through the door. Once inside, I couldn't make out anything because the room was dark. I could feel the man move his arm again and from the end of his stick a glowing light lit up the room.

Using the light, I glanced around the room. I was in an attic and in the corner was a small cot. On the cot, I saw a figure and, realizing it was my father hunched up, I ran over to him.

"Dad?" I asked as I went over to him and tugged on his shoulder. He was facing the wall in what appeared to be sleep, but he was very pale.

"Hnnnh…" he replied in what I first thought was a sleepy way but, upon feeling he head, I found that he was burning up with a fever.

"He's sick!" I exclaimed turning back to the figure clad in black that stood in the doorway and was my only source of light.

"That is not my problem." He said icily.

"YOU MONSTER!" I yelled, enraged. "It IS your problem. You dragged him up here and locked him up after he was out in the rain. It's freezing up here!" I continued to yell.

"Severus, she called you a monster are you going to take that?" the woman asked. I hadn't heard anyone else come up the stairs with us.

"Your father was trespassing…" the man, Severus, began but I cut him off.

"He was looking for help… and then THIS is how you help him. What kind of people are you?" I asked with venom in my voice as I walked over to the man in black.

"The kind you don't want to mess with." He said as he stepped closer to me, trying to intimidate me.

"He needs medical attention." I said as I narrowed my eyes.

"I'm afraid, my dear, that he has found himself a servant of this household." The snake-man hissed.

"If he stays here, he will die." I spat back.

"You would do best to watch your tongue, lest I cut if from you pretty little mouth." The woman said as she came forward, grabbed my chin, and held a blade in front of my mouth. If looks could kill, I would have given her a death so brutally painful.

"Your father cannot leave." Severus said as he pulled me out of the woman's grasp.

"Then let me take his place. I'll do whatever you want. Just let him go." I said turning around to face him.

"She wants to take her father's place… how interesting. This could be of great value to us Severus." The other man spoke.

"Very well." Severus said without hesitation and then grabbed my father up from the bed. He began to drag him down the stairs with me chasing after him. When we reached the bottom, he grabbed a vial that was sitting on a shelf and uncorked it before dumping its contents down his throat.

"You're poisoning him!" I shouted as I tried to pry the vial from his hands.

"I'm saving his life. He will be fine in a few moments." Severus responded as he proceeded to drag him out the front door and then shove him in my car. The rain had stopped at some point while I was in the house. "Keys?" he asked me.

I threw them at him as I watched my father begin to regain the color he had lost. After the man had his back turned to close the car door, I ran and tried to get around to the other side of the car. The man was quicker though and caught me by the shoulder.

"Avada Kedavra!" I heard the snake-like man his behind me and Severus's hand on my shoulder tightened as I watched my father slump over in the car.

"Dad? Dad… DAD!" I cried out when I realized he wasn't responding.

"You're a fool of a child if you thought I was going to let your father go that easily." The snake-like man said as he approached me and the man holding me. "Severus, take her inside and lock her up. All of this muggle business has exhausted me."

"Yes, my lord." Severus responded as, once again, I was dragged back into the dreary house and back up the rickety stairs. Once back in the attic, I was thrown into the room and I stumbled to the floor. "You will remain in here until I retrieve you."

The door was slammed shut and I could hear the lock click. Once I was sure that the man had left, I finally let out the emotions I had tried to hard to keep at bay. Tears flowed down my cheeks a mixture of sadness and fear.

"Now, now dear. There is no reason to cry." came a gentleman's voice. I was startled from the position I had been crying in and looked around the attic, trying to find the source of the voice.

"Where are you? Show yourself." I called out to the room.

"I'm afraid that is easier said than done." The voice said. I kept scanning the room, but could not see anyone in there, not to mention the room was nearly dark.

"Who are you?" I asked the darkness.

"An ally, you need not fear me."

"They killed my father."

"I am very sorry for your loss. But you must know, Severus is not the man you have encountered tonight. The other two were Bellatrix Lestrange, and Lord Voldemort, the darkest wizard alive."

"Wizard?" I asked

"My dear, I must tell you a story. And this story begins with…"


End file.
